{"id":5890,"date":"2020-05-16T07:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T23:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5890"},"modified":"2021-10-15T11:09:24","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T03:09:24","slug":"248-female-chinese-medical-workers-beating-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=5890","title":{"rendered":"248. A Tribute to Frontline COVID-19 Medical Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

3\u00a0<\/sup>Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing;\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

4\u00a0<\/sup>rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God\u2019s sight.<\/strong><\/span> [1 Peter 3:3-4<\/span><\/strong>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At Mass on the International Nurses Day<\/strong> on Tuesday May 12, Pope Francis offered special prayers for nurses. Noting their heroism in this COVID-19 pandemic, he called their profession \u201ca vocation, a dedication.\u201d Not only have medical staff (doctors, nurses and others) been on the front lines of the pandemic, but in many cases, they have been most at risk due to prolonged exposure to the virus, long hours with little sleep and, in some cases, with a shortage of PPE. Tens of thousands of health-care workers worldwide are believed to have been infected with the virus, and hundreds of nurses have lost their lives. This day helps \u201chumanity to rediscover the fundamental importance of their role\u201d; their dedication makes them among the \u201csaints next door\u201d. They are \u201can image of the Church as a \u2018field hospital\u2019 that continues to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ, who drew near to and healed people with all kinds of sickness and who stooped down to wash the feet of his disciples.\u201d As a tribute to all the pandemic heroes and the spirit that drove them in their humanitarian contributions, we seek to observe, learn, and \u201crediscover\u201d a little about the spirit of sacrifice and the seriously hard and dangerous work carried out by the female nurses who dashed to Wuhan.<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Speeding life-saving personnel and materials to the epicenter<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In this COVID-19 pandemic, which first exploded in Wuhan (scientists are still tracing the native origin of the virus), humanity in China suffered a very dark moment in history as the microscopic virus threatened its communities. Individuals, groups, industrialists, sensing their social duties, rallied to the urgent call to mobilize resources in aid of the singular goal of saving lives. At its core, the dominant spirit was about community, about building hope, and about joining hands in nurturing all through a time of darkness<\/em><\/strong>. At the peak of the crisis, more than 150,000 medical workers toiled to exhaustion in Wuhan alone, and one third of them were women.\u00a0As the nation was at the cusp of a major outbreak, they sped as volunteers from across China direct to the epicenter to help in containment. They knew it; frontline medical work at\u00a0the best of times and circumstances would place their lives in serious danger, let alone at such madly chaotic time and circumstance as Wuhan must inevitably be at the start of the crisis.\u00a0And some of them did lose their lives in the early days.\u00a0<\/span>But they went, driven by the conviction that their work, while life-threatening to themselves, would be life-saving and life-generating to others<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0Hotel operators close to Wuhan hospitals at once offered free accommodation to support them.<\/span>\u00a0Others, able and willing to render help in all fields, burst into action expending time, energy and money in a heart-warming and hope-generating show of \u201cunity is power\u201d [\u56e2\u7ed3\u5c31\u662f\u529b\u91cf<\/strong>]. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Why were they in Wuhan? Why were they doing this \u201ccrazy\u201d punishing work?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am a medical worker. If I don\u2019t rush to front lines to help at this time, I will regret it.\u201d She and her colleagues literally risked their lives to do this, especially at the very beginning when things were inevitably chaotic at the epicenter of the epidemic. Given the initial coordination difficulties, personal protection for medical staff might not be fully in place at first. The reality, in any event, was that\u00a0they were making untold personal sacrifices so that others would live<\/strong><\/em>!<\/span><\/p>\n

Their profound spirit found ready support in a blogger who noted: “Human beings are members of one another, since in their creation they are of one essence. When the conditions of the time bring a member (limb) to pain, the other members (limbs) will suffer from discomfort.\u201d This philosophy prompted Le Yucheng, the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, to comment in his interview with US television network NBC that \u201cas a nation we look out for each other.\u201d We observe in this pandemic,\u00a0a fundamental human <\/em><\/strong>resilience, a deep respect for human life, and a strong sense of community<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] An exhausting day of endless steps<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When a young nurse, all geared up, was asked how many steps she took in a day, she said that the nurses rushed around the whole day, non-stop. She spoke in a hurry, \u201cWe are busy all the time, everyday. We have to be on the move all the time. I think I\u2019m fine.\u201d She did not think it was in any way meaningful to engage in counting the number of steps she made in a day..\u00a0Engaged as she was in a high-tensioned space and time in\u00a0the noble work of fighting to save human lives<\/strong><\/em>; she couldn\u2019t possibly care two cents for a leisurely conversation on step-counts in fitness-tracking.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Caring, consoling and encouraging patients<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A photo-journalist watched a nurse asking an elderly female patient, \u201cAre you hungry? Would you like something to eat now? Let me wipe your sweat\u2026\u201d To his left, the journalist heard another nurse consoling an elderly male patient, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, uncle,\u201d she said. \u201cHang in there. You will be alright.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n